15 DISTURBING TRUTHS BEHIND HEATH LEDGER’S JOKER

#15 His Joker terrified Michael Caine

The first time when Caine saw Ledger in his Joker avatar, he was looking so intense that Caine actually stumbled upon and forgot his lines in awe of Ledger's character.

#14 Heath originally wanted to play Batman

Though he badly wanted to play the role of Batman, well, this isn't a surprise because honestly, who wouldn't? But later the producers realized that he's the perfect fit for the role of Joker.

#13 He locked himself away to prepare for the role

Ledger locked himself up for 43 days straight in a hotel room to prepare himself for the role before the filming began. He got so into it that his disassociation started to affect his relationship with his partner Michelle Williams.

#12 He was the first actor to win an Oscar for playing a villain

During the 81st Academy Awards, this movie was nominated for 8 awards where Ledger won his posthumous Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker. He was the first and only to win in any of the categories for a movie like that

#11 ‘The Joker Journal’

He carried a Joker Journal with himself everytime which contained incoherent ramblings, things that the Joker might find funny, and some say that it’s a pretty strong indication that Ledger may have been a little bit mad himself.

#10 He was inspired by Clockwork Orange

Ledger gained huge inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 classic A Clockwork Orange. He looked at the main character Alex De Large, played by Malcolm McDowell and got inspired by him. This is how he developed his strange mannerisms

#9 He wanted Christian Bale to REALLY beat him up

Since he wanted every scene to be as authentic as possible, he asked Bale to beat him up as hard as possible

#8 Ledger created his own makeup

The makeup artists didn't bring the look of the Joker, Heath Ledger did. He wanted it to look like how a man would do it with a bunch of cheap makeup – so that’s what he did.

#7 He saw the Joker as a genius

There has always been a debate about whether the Joker was actually a mad psychopath or an utter brilliant mind. And he made it obvious that The Joker was not only a psychopath but a brilliant one.

#6 He improved the movie’s scenes a lot

Throughout filming, Ledger improvised scenes a lot. He brought his own dimension to the scene and sometimes, they were also brought to the films. In this scene, clapping was not supposed to be a part of the movie; that was something that Heath added in on his own.

#5 The hospital explosion was unscripted – Ledger set it off himself

In the scene where Ledger was dressed as a nurse, it was decided by the team that the explosion will be delayed, but the trigger was in the hands of Ledger. He decided on his own when the explosion would happen, and it wasn’t in the script.

#4 The Generational Mask

During the bank robbery scene, Ledger wears a very unusual mask that you would not see any joker wearing. However, there is some symbolism to the choice of the mask – a very similar mask was seen in an episode of a 1960’s Batman series. The mask has quite a bit of history since Cesar Romero wore it.

#3 Ledger cut a menacing figure on set

Ledger liked to stay in his character almost all the time and this lead to a skateboarding Joker disturbing the cast and production team during breaks – yes, Ledger loved to skateboard and did it often while on set, but imagine that in full Joker costume. But he was always in a happy mood and would make others laugh on set.

#2 His scars are called a “Glasgow Smile”

Originating from Scotland, the Glasgow smile is a gang scar tactic which was how the gang would scar their enemies. It’s usually done with knives but often credit cards were used to keep the mouth open. Though there are no scars on the faces of jokers in usual comics, Ledger wanted his character to be different.

#1 His death impacted the movie

This star died shortly after filming the movie in which he played the famous "Joker" character and the rumours have it that the actor apparently his dedication to this character lead him to the depression.